After the Seinfeld/Bill Gates advertising campaign got a mixed reception you think Microsoft may have been turned off adverts featuring well-known celebrities. But apparently that isn’t the case as a batch of Internet Explorer 8 ads have been created starring TV Superman Dean Cain.

There are four adverts in total, with Dean Kane almost shouting his lines at the screen and the people meant to be us, the users, coming off as pretty dumb for the most part. An elderly gentleman hitting the keyboard shouting “I have gritting rage”, or an office worker becoming hysterical because she can’t keep up with everything that is going on online. Apparently that’s what users of web browsers are like and what Internet Explorer 8 fixes.

You can judge for yourself by watching the adverts. One of the adverts can be seen above and the other three are linked to below, but before watching the fourth advert please be warned it is pretty disgusting and should not be watched while eating or if you find someone vomiting offensive.

Matthew’s Opinion
I have to admit I found the S.H.Y.N.E.S.S. and F.O.M.S ads funny, but the other two were a bit off putting. I’m not sure what Microsoft were trying to achieve with these Internet-only adverts. I assume it was just awareness of the browser existing as there is no real details in the ads other than quick mentions of specific features. They are just meant to make you laugh and remember the name I guess.

The way I see it Microsoft are losing browser market share at the moment because the power users are migrating to Firefox and Chrome. Microsoft still has the main bulk of typical users on IE because they just use what is on the machine which by default is IE. So shouldn’t any advertising be aimed at the power users trying to draw them back?

What do you think of these adverts and Microsoft’s marketing strategy?

Reader Comments

Cynthia Repsher

I found the ads humorous.Dean Cain is just trying to make them a little campy.He is a professional actor and he can do campy well.So cut the company some slack.They may not have given you what you like,but then again I would challenge you to do better.At least,Dean cain got payed to do the commercials with no hesitation.And he is still a great actor.